Stonehenge and Avebury stone circle daytrip. Involves walking through grass and could be muddy. Please bring snacks and/or your own lunch today. There are cafes at Stonehenge and Avebury but we may not have time to take advantage of them.
7:15am: YHA breakfast
8:10am: Board the waiting coach outside the hostel.
8:15am: Coach departs the hostel, arriving at Stonehenge approximately 9:45 AM. We will tour Stonehenge as a group, with a small amount of free time at the end of the tour.
11:50am: Meet at the coach and board.
12:00pm: Coach departs Stonehenge, arriving at West Kennet Long Barrow approximately 12:40pm. We will hike up to the Barrow, take a quick look then return to the coach.
1:10pm: Coach departs West Kennet Long Barrow, arriving Avebury 1:20pm. Our visit will include a guided tour of the stone circle and self-guided visits to the on-site museum and visitor center.
3:15pm: Coach departs Avebury, returning to Bristol YHA approximately 4:30pm.
7:15am: YHA breakfast
7:45am: As you exit reception on the ground floor, return room keys to jmac.
7:50am: Load all luggage and board the Spratts coach ready for departure.
8:00am: Coach departs Bristol YHA, arriving at UEA approximately 1:00pm.
On arrival, check in at the SportsPark, where you will be given your room keys. From there, walk with your own luggage to the University Village (5-10 minutes, even with luggage). Begin settling in.
3:45-4:15pm: Collect your Norwich bag (which was couriered to Norwich directly from Heathrow) from Courtyard B in the UEA Village.
The remainder of the day is free for UEA orientation events, or your own free time.
Optional, between 10:00am and 12:00 noon: Visit the directors' residence at 371 Unthank Rd, Norwich NR4 7QG to pick up some cooking and eating implements, and stay for a coffee or tea if you feel like it. Get to the residence on foot (40-minute walk from the Village) or by bus 25 (get on at Stop A, University Drive; get off at Colman Hospital on Unthank Road).
Recommended for afternoon: Take the bus into the city centre, explore, visit the market square and the cathedral; OR do shopping (see shopping info); OR take a UEA campus tour (definitely take a UEA tour today or tomorrow).
Evening: optional UEA orientation events. Some require you to reserve a free ticket online in advance.
Fall-only students: don't forget to check in with each instructor to ensure there is a "coursework-only" option for you for that class.
Required reading. Fara, Introduction.
On arrival at Heathrow, meet Profs MacCormick and/or Mitchell at the arrivals area in Terminal 2 (see details in the flight and arrival instructions document).
At the meeting point, you will be given an envelope containing some cash (probably about 100 pounds), a card containing emergency phone numbers, and some printed instructions ("Instructions for the first day") on how to get to the hotel via the Underground plus other useful information and required activities for the day.
You can leave your Norwich bag at the meeting point. The professors will put you into small groups and instruct you to make your own way to the hotel. Once at your hotel, use the afternoon to get some lunch, get your cell phone working with a UK SIM card (or buy a new cell phone if you want), and optionally buy your 16-25 Rail Pass.
All-year students only: pick up your BRP from the post office.
If problems arise during the afternoon, please call/text/email/WhatsApp me. Or you can probably find me in the lobby of the Ridgemount.
Optional reading: In addition to the above required reading, you may want to do some background reading (Wikipedia is fine) on the Magna Carta, Gutenberg Bible, Lindisfarne Gospels, or anything else that interests you at the Ritblat Gallery.
6pm: Meet me at the Ritblat Gallery of the British Library. This is our first academic event, so the academic travel expectations apply (i.e. required reading is completed, bring your notebook and pen, don't have your cell phone out, don't be late, make sure to note two or three items for your timeline assignment.)
Recommended: get a head start on the required reading for tomorrow. This recommendation applies to every evening, since it will usually be easier to complete the required reading the night before.
11:00am-11:30pm: UEA registration and visa check. This will be in the lobby of the Ridgemount. Please arrive in approximately alphabetical order by last name (A-M 11:00, N-Z 11:15am). The sciences students are being processed after the humanities students, so timings are approximate.
Before you get on the tube: top up your Oyster card so that it has at least 35 pounds of credit, and use this to buy a 7-day travel card for zones 1 and 2. (You won't physically get a "travel card," but your Oyster card will now give you unlimited travel within zones 1 and 2 for the next week, without requiring any additional credit.)
2PM: London Science Museum visit. Meet outside the Group Entrance on Imperial College Road. We will enter as a group, and I will probably take you to see one or two of my favorite exhibits. After that, you are on your own to complete the following assignment (and also to enjoy the museum for as long as you want):
9:45am: Meet in the lobby of the Wellcome Library building, 183 Euston Rd, Bloomsbury, London NW1 2BE.
10:00am: Guided tour of Wellcome Library and Collection.
The rest of the day consists of optional activities. I encourage you to join me for a lighthearted navigation exercise followed by a reward at a pub near the hotel; but if you prefer to do your own thing and/or focus on the required reading for tomorrow, that is absolutely fine.
For those who choose to stay with the group: After the Wellcome Library tour we will take bus 205 over to Old Spitalfields Market and eat lunch there. You will have been given an ungraded exercise (also available online ) for navigating in London, to be done in small groups of 2-4. If we get separated on the trip to Spitalfields or you need to find me after lunch before you set off on the navigation exercise, I will be based at the coffee shop called Department of Coffee and Social Affairs (6 Lamb St). If you complete the navigation exercise, there is a reward. See the exercise for details.
9:00am: Meet outside the Ridgemount ready for departure to Greenwich.
We will walk to Tottenham court road tube station, take the Central line to Bank, switch to the DLR (Docklands Light Railway), ride 10 stops to the Cutty Sark station. We get off there and walk about half a mile up the hill to the Royal Observatory, Greenwich.
In the unlikely event that you are traveling separately, meet us outside the Observatory entrance near Wolfe's statue and close to the Gate Clock, by 10:25am.
10:30am: Tour of Prime Meridian and Royal Observatory with Mike Dryland, Voluntary Curatorial Assistant of the Horology Department at the Royal Observatory, Greenwich.
After the tour, grab some lunch, probably in Greenwich Market.
1:15pm: Meet at Greenwich Pier
1:30pm: Boat trip on the Thames with Thames River Services. We'll first travel east to see the Thames Barrier, then the boat turns around and takes us all the way back to Westminster Pier in central London.
There are no scheduled activities today. Relax, catch up on assignments and get ahead on required reading, or do a reimbursable activity.
10:15am: Meet outside the Royal Society, Carlton House Terrace, SW1Y 5AG.
10:30am: Guided tour of the Royal Society.
2:25pm: Meet outside the classroom at London International Development Centre (LIDC), 36 Gordon Square, WC1H 0PD. The entrance is not actually on the square itself, but round the corner on Endsleigh Place. Please don't ring the doorbell as this will disturb the Institute's receptionist upstairs. We will monitor the door and let you in; use your phone to call us if there are difficulties.
Wifi details for the classroom:
2:30-4:00pm: Classroom session.
6:15pm: (optional) meet at the Royal Albert hall to queue for the prom concert. See the cultural events page for more details.
Bring 16-24 railcard and all train tickets that were in your packet distributed at the classroom session.
9:30am: Meet at Paddington Station, under the main departure display boards. The train departs at 9:50 AM, arriving at Oxford 10:49 AM.
We will walk into the center of town, then there will be free time to explore and have lunch (the Covered Market could be a good place for that).
12:55pm: Meet outside The Museum of the History of Science.
1:00-1:45pm: self-guided visit to The Museum of the History of Science (on Broad Street). Backpacks must be worn on your front, not your back. The museum curators have recommended their "pocket curator" app (available for android and iPhone). You are welcome to download and use that on your phone in the museum if you wish.
1:55pm: Meet (again) outside The Museum of the History of Science
2:00-3:30pm: guided walk of Oxford with tour guide Iain Stevenson.
3:45pm (optional) Meet me for a drink at the Lamb and Flag pub on St Giles. The Dickinson program will provide a beverage. It is about a 20-minute walk from there to the train station, so we will leave around 4:15 PM.
4:45pm: meet at the train station
5:01pm: train departs Oxford, arriving back at Paddington at 5:59pm.
Optional preparation: listen to the following excellent BBC radio program about Michael Faraday, featuring today's tour guide, Professor Frank James: In Our Time: Michael Faraday (BBC Radio 4) .
9:15am: Meet outside the Royal Institution on Albemarle Street.
9:30-11:30am: Heritage tour of the Royal Institution guided by Professor Frank James.
1:15pm: Meet inside the main entrance to the Museum of London at 150 London Wall.
1:30pm: Visit the Museum of London. We will visit one or two exhibits of interest as a group, then you are free to explore the museum on your own. (Sometimes free tours are available and if you are interested in joining one, please do so.) During your visit, consider the following discussion question:
What historical factors enabled London to become a leader in science and technology from 1600 to the present day? What historical factors inhibited scientific and technological progress in London?Make sufficient notes that you can contribute to a discussion of this topic at the next classroom session. Connect your ideas to specific exhibits and items within the museum.
6:30-8:30pm: Reception for Dickinson alumni and Dickinson in England students at the Royal Automobile Club, 89 Pall Mall, London SW1Y 5HS. Please see the separately-sent email for additional details, including the dress code. There is no need to meet outside the venue. Please travel to the vicinity in good time and enter the venue at 6:30pm or shortly thereafter.
10:15am: Meet outside the entrance to The Old Operating Theatre, 9a St Thomas' St, London SE1 9RY. Easy walk from London Bridge station. The museum is in the attic of St. Thomas' church, a red brick building with white stones on the corners.
Note: There are no restrooms inside this museum. The nearest public restrooms are at London Bridge Station or Borough Market. Please arrive in plenty of time and use a restroom before meeting outside the museum at 10:15 AM, as there will be no opportunity to do so after this.
10:30am: Visit and presentation at The Old Operating Theatre.
2:30-4:00pm: Classroom session at LIDC (36 Gordon Square).
Daytrip to Down House (Charles Darwin's house). It is probably best to bring your own lunch or at least some snacks with you today.
8:25am: Board coach on Gower Street immediately outside the hotel.
8:30am: Coach departs. We will arrive at Down House around 10 AM and begin our visit, which includes a written assignment that will be distributed. We will depart Down House approximately 12:15 PM and should be back at the hotel by 1:45 PM.
The remainder of the afternoon is free time and is a good opportunity to make progress on your archival research.
Royal Society group 1 (Amara, Sam, Noah, Ellis): please make your way to the Royal Society as soon as we return to Gower Street. They are expecting you to register at the library between 2 PM and 2:30 PM. You need to take picture ID and proof of home address. (The best way to do this is to take both your passport and driving licence.)
If anyone doing research at the Royal Society is interested in doing a blog post for the Royal Society, please contact me. See previous blog posts by Dickinson students Leah Miller and the 2012 Sciences group for examples.
10:15am: Meet outside the Linnean Society, Burlington House, Piccadilly, London, W1J 0BF.
10:30am: One-hour guided tour of the Linnean Society.
Afternoon: Either complete the National Portrait Gallery assignment (HW5c) OR pursue archival research (or both).
Note: Don't get confused between the National Gallery and the National Portrait Gallery. They are both near Trafalgar Square but they are completely separate. For this assignment, you want the National Portrait Gallery. The main entrance is on St Martin's Place.
Royal Society group 2 (Lindsay and Lexi): please arrive at the Royal Society between 2 PM and 2:30 PM. You need to take picture ID and proof of home address. (The best way to do this is to take both your passport and driving licence.)
9:25am: Arrive at the classroom.
9:30-11am: Classroom session. The following items are resources to be used during the session. There is no need to look at them in advance.
Afternoon: Either complete the National Portrait Gallery assignment (HW5c) OR pursue archival research (or both).
Required reading. Fara, VII.1: Warfare + VII.4: Information.
Optional reading: If you have any interest in codebreaking during World War II and/or Alan Turing, you can enhance your visit to Bletchley Park by reading up beforehand. One place to start is the Bletchley Park Wikipedia page, and Hut 8.
9:30am: Meet under the main departure boards at Euston station (train station, not the Euston Square tube station). Bring train tickets for Bletchley Park and 16-24 rail card. Exact meeting point: near The Body Shop.
9:49am: Train departs for Bletchley, arriving 10:23am.
11:00am: guided tour of National Museum of Computing.
approx 12:30pm: Enter Bletchley Park as a group, then explore on your own for the rest of the afternoon. Join one or more of the free guided tours if desired. The Bombe demonstration is strongly recommended.
Our day return train tickets are valid for any train back to London, so make your own way back, allowing plenty of time if you are participating in the Othello trip tonight. One possible train would be the 2:52pm from Bletchley, arriving at London Euston 3:45pm.
6:15pm: [For those going to Othello.] Meet outside the hotel on Gower Street. We will travel together to the Globe for the start of the play at 7:30 PM. I think you'll enjoy the play much more if you try to understand the main points of the plot beforehand. Wikipedia has a good synopsis on its Othello page.
Between 10 AM and 11 AM: I will be waiting in the Cadogan Gallery of the Natural History Museum. Please check in with me there individually (we won't meet as a group). I won't be doing a formal quiz, but I will chat with you about the readings for today and yesterday, individually or in small groups. Be prepared, with the help of your notes, to contribute to a meaningful conversation that will form part of your PAE grade. After chatting with me, you can start the following assignment.
Natural History Museum assignment: Complete this assignment in your notebook, and be prepared to describe your results at a subsequent class meeting. Note that the museum is divided into three zones, as follows: Green Zone for birds, ecology, fossils, archaeology, minerals; Red Zone for volcanoes, earthquakes, early earth, evolution of life, geology, mineralogy, wind, water, weather; Blue Zone for dinosaurs, fishes, amphibians, reptiles, mammals, marine invertebrates, human biology. There are two steps in the assignment:
Afternoon, before 4:30pm: You are required to visit the Bank of England Museum on Bartholomew Ln, London EC2R 8AH. (Don't go to the main entrance of the bank on Threadneedle Street.) You may do this visit any time this afternoon, on your own or in small groups. The museum closes at 5 PM, with last admission 4:30 PM. As with any academic event, make some notes in preparation for a subsequent discussion. And don't miss out on the chance to hold a real bar of gold!
Complete the British Museum assignment (HW5d) at any time today. The museum is open 10am-830pm.
The rest of the day is unscheduled. This is our last day in London, so it's a good opportunity to do some final archival research if you need to for HW4b.
Check out of the hotel with all of your luggage in good time. I recommend leaving around 9 AM. Take the Victoria line tube from Warren Street station.
10:00am: meet at Victoria Coach station. (Note: this is not the train station or the tube station. The Coach Station is 5-10 minutes' walk from the rail and underground stations.) Use the departure boards to find the departure bay for our bus service, which is the 10:30am SH040 National Express coach to Bristol. We will meet at the designated departure bay.
10:30am: coach departs, arriving in Bristol 1:10 PM.
1:10pm: We travel by taxi from the Bristol coach station to the Bristol YHA hostel at 14 Narrow Quay, Bristol BS1 4QA. I may be able to arrange prepaid taxis. If not, please pay your taxi, keep the receipt, and I will reimburse you.
2:00pm: Check in to Bristol YHA.
2:30pm: Meet in the reception area of the YHA, ready to depart for the M-Shed museum. We will walk (5 minutes) to the M-Shed and enter as a group.
3:30pm: Meet outside the M-Shed museum (for directions, use the direct Google Maps link to M-Shed -- the museum is on Museum Street, at Princes Wharf. It is a 5-minute walk from the hostel. Bring your notebook and pen. We will enter as a group, and hold a class discussion of recent assignments. We will then go to the Bristol People gallery on the First Floor, to examine some connections between Bristol and the trans-Atlantic slave trade. Please take some notes on this exhibition. After that, the rest of the day is free time.
Daytrip to Bath.
8:30am: YHA breakfast
10:00am: Meet at Bristol Temple Meads railway station (this is the central railway station for Bristol). It's a 1-mile walk from the hostel, so allow at least 20 minutes.
10:15am: Train departs from Bristol. Arrives in Bath 10:26am.
11:00am: Walking tour of Bath. Duration is two hours. Meeting point to be advised.
1:55pm: Meet outside Herschel Museum of Astronomy.
2:00pm: Enter the Herschel Museum of Astronomy as a group. This will be mostly a self-guided visit, taking approximately one hour.
The remainder of the day is free to enjoy Bath and/or Bristol. Return to Bristol on the train of your choice.
Daytrip to Jenner Museum and Berkeley Castle.
9:00am: YHA breakfast
10:10am: Board the waiting coach outside the hostel.
10:15am: Coach departs the hostel, arriving at Jenner Museum approximately 11 AM.
11:00am: Complete Edward Jenner Exercise (HW5e) based on self-guided tour of the museum. During the visit, I will distribute tickets for our Berkeley Castle visit.
After completing HW5e, visit Berkeley Castle at your leisure (we will not enter or tour as a group).
2:10pm: Board the coach in Berkeley Castle parking lot.
2:15pm: Coach departs for return to Bristol, arriving at approximately 3 PM.